Redick Wins Naismith Award

Duke Sports Information

04/03/2006

INDIANAPOLIS - J.J. Redick, Duke University's all-everything senior guard, tonight was named the Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year presented by Cingular Wireless, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced.

J.J. Redick accepted the award at the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Guardians of the Game Awards Show at the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Duke owns the most players to win the award and the most overall awards. Only UCLA (three players a total of five times), North Carolina (two players, two times) and Indiana (two players, two times) have multiple winners and those three and Virginia (one player, three times) have more than one award.

The Naismith Trophy was presented to Redick by Atlanta Tipoff Club Chairman Jim Williams and Cingular Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Marc Lefar. The Naismith Trophy is given annually to the men's and women's college players of the year and is the most prestigious national award in college basketball. The other Naismith Trophy finalists were Rudy Gay of UConn, Adam Morrison of Gonzaga and Allan Ray of Villanova.

Redick was selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors - a collection of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country - and the fans. Again this year, through the power and ease of text messaging, fans accounted for an unprecedented 25% of the Board of Selectors' overall vote. The results were certified by the accounting firm of Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP.

"When you consider all aspects of his game and everything he brings to the floor, there is no doubt Redick is the best player in the country," said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Tipoff Club president. "He helped lead Duke to a great season and, along the way, turned in one of the greatest personal performances of all time. He had a fantastic career for the Blue Devils and really embodies what the Naismith Trophy stands for."

Redick was the nation's No. 2 scorer with an average of 27.4 points per game as the Duke Blue Devils went 32-4 en route to both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles. The 6-foot-4 guard also averaged 2.6 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game.

A selection to the respective All-America First Teams by the Associated Press and the United States Basketball Writers' Association, Redick was named the ACC's Player of the Year for the second year in a row. Redick is the first player to win in consecutive seasons since Wake Forest's Tim Duncan (1996-97) and joins Danny Ferry (1988-89) as the only Duke players to do it.

"J.J. Redick had an outstanding year and he is an extremely worthy recipient of the Naismith Trophy," said Marc Lefar, chief marketing officer for Cingular Wireless. "Once again Cingular empowered the fans to help anoint this year's winner, making this award truly special. I'd like to thank all the college basketball fans who participated in the voting and made their voice heard."

The most prolific three-point shooter in the history of college basketball, Redick tallied an NCAA-record 457 treys during his career. In 2005-06, Redick made 139 three-pointers on 42.4 percent shooting from behind the arc. He is also second among the NCAA's all-time leaders in free throw percentage at 91.2 percent.

Redick concluded his Duke career with 2,679 points to become the school's and ACC's career scoring leader. He is the 15th player from the ACC to take home the Naismith Trophy. Last year's Naismith Trophy winner was Andrew Bogut of Utah.